Audra Can't Be in "Sunday In The Park"

I can't think of any actress I would rather see more in the role.

---

It's unsettling to see a talented actor cast in a part not written for their race/gender. If you sat through Alley Sheedy in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, you'd know what i mean. The answer is to write more shows where the character can be of any race. Or more parts written for minorities.

---

Dear Lord midtown - keeping black actors away from "Sunday" because of Seurat's colors in his painting is about the most stupid thing I have ever heard. That woman has a glorious voice and is also an amazing actor. The musical is all about blending colors and light - what a way to prove the point.

I suppose you're offended that Gary Coleman in Avenue Q is being played by a woman.

---

midtowngym, the reason ally sheedy sucked as hedwig was because she was all over the place, not putting herself into the role, and allegedly had a drug or alcohol problem during her run of the show. i still believe a female could play hedwig. sandra bernhardt was the first choice, i'd still love to have seen how that turned out.

ps. go audra!

The character of Dot is a fiction invented by Sondheim and Lapine -- she didn't actually exist (and the character of Seurat is also a fiction -- while such a person did exist, history recorded nothing about him other than he was a painter who died young .... the Seurat in the musical is an invention). There were many persons of African descent in the Paris of the 1880s and it would hardly be surprising that a few of them would be artists' models. It's entirely possible that SITPWG's Seurat could have had an affair with a black model named Dot, but decided to paint her as white in the painting to avoid scandal (it might also further explain why he's so hesitant to go to the Follies with her and spend time with her in public).

---

Updated On: 8/18/04 at 12:58 PM

Besides everything else, I thought that one of the points of a concert production was that you can cast solely for the voice and totally disregard physical attributes such age or race. It happens often at Encores, for example, that performers are cast in roles who would never be able to play certain roles in a fully staged production.

As for Cerveris in Jelly's Last Jam, Jelly Roll Morton was a real person, a celebrity in fact, that we actually have photographs of, unlike Seurat. Add to that the fact the musical SPECIFICALLY deals with race and skin color so casting a non-African American actor would undermine the point of the show, in a way that, say, casting a white actor as The Leading Player in Pippin wouldn't since the role and the show have nothing to do with race.

---

If this is a concert production, I agree--it's a different story. And a chance to hear Audra in concert is a beautiful thing.
However, virtually all impressionist art from that time, in a picture of that type, does not include minorities. That's just the way it was. But if Margo says it's plausible, i will not doubt it.

---

On a side note...Whoopi Goldberg in "Forum" a few seasons ago. She was hysterical considering the role was originally written for a man. To me her performance was the funniest I had ever witnessed in a Broadway show.

---

I was going to mention that she was Carrie Pippenridge in Carousel a few years ago. Nic Hytner didn't give a rat's tushie what colour she was. She could sing and act, and that was all that mattered.

AM has said she wants to play Eliza Dolittle one of these days. How would people respond to that?

Margo, you impress me everytime you post.

Thank you for those comments. I could not have said it more beautifully.

---

But...and of course this is hypothetical since this is a concert and not a full production...how does one propose making the show work when two of the pieces of art that represent Dot are clearly white women.

Like I said...I don't care. But it does pose a unique challenge.

---

That doesn't necessarily work...and I speak from experience. In college, I was in a production of THE BAKER'S WIFE. I, a honky, was playing the Baker and the girl playing Genevieve (the wife) is black. And I posed a problem that was never addressed.

The story is of an older man marrying a much younger woman. All of the villagers are gossips who can't get over the relationship between this homely old man and this beautiful young girl. Problem was, our Genevieve was the only black person on the stage. So...for the first half-hour of the show, it looked like it was a town full of racists freaking out over a mixed marriage. Which can be interesting...no doubt...problem was our director never addressed it. So...in the end, the wrong message was sent.

To ignore the reality on stage is, I believe, artistically irresponsible in some situations. If you can't change the text, encourage your actors to find a rich and compelling subtext that informs the show.

Even something like the revival of CAROUSEL, I believe, used colorblind casting to make a point about the universality of the story.

---